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People of the Philippines vs. Katchan Irizumi y Borromeo

The appeal was granted and Katchan Irizumi y Borromeo @ "Hapon" was acquitted of illegal sale and illegal possession of dangerous drugs under Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act No. 9165, as amended. The prosecution arose from a buy-bust operation conducted at around midnight on April 28, 2021 in Barangay 8, Poblacion, Batangas City, in which the barangay captain refused to accompany the team and was merely called to the scene after the sale had been consummated, leaving the media representative as the only insulating witness at the place of apprehension. The conviction was reversed principally because the required witnesses were not present "at or near" the place of seizure as mandated by Section 21(1) of Republic Act No. 9165, as amended, and the police officers' bare claims of earnest effort and of pandemic-related difficulty were held insufficient to excuse non-compliance. The Court further found that the markings on the seized items omitted the time and place of seizure in violation of the PNP Manual, that the Request for Laboratory Examination did not state the weights of the alleged shabu, and that the prosecution failed to show how the evidence custodian safeguarded the drugs while in his custody.

Primary Holding

Compliance with the two-witness requirement of Section 21(1) of Republic Act No. 9165, as amended by Republic Act No. 10640, demands that an elected public official and a representative of the National Prosecution Service or the media be present "at or near" the place of apprehension and be readily available to witness the immediately ensuing inventory; calling them in only after the seizure, and justifying the lapse with bare assertions of earnest effort or with a generic invocation of the COVID-19 pandemic, does not constitute substantial compliance and destroys the corpus delicti.

Background

Republic Act No. 9165, as amended by Republic Act No. 10640, governs the custody and disposition of confiscated dangerous drugs and imposes on the apprehending team the duty to conduct a physical inventory and photograph the seized items immediately after seizure and confiscation in the presence of the accused and two insulating witnesses — an elected public official and a representative of the National Prosecution Service or the media. Katchan Irizumi